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Friday, July 23, 2010

There’s no shortage of great places to visit in Bali, but if you’re looking for the really special places, you can find these within easy travel distance of your Bali hotel . Bali’s a great place for sightseeing at convenient distances.

The best places are easy to find, and you can take your pick from a range of fantastic experiences and sights:

Mount Agung

Mount Agung is a big place, the biggest of Bali’s mountains. It’s the holiest place in Bali, and it deserves respect for its beauty as well.
This place has everything:

* Treks up the mountain, where you find yourself literally above the clouds in an ever-changing sky, able to see the whole of Bali. The light is a photographer’s dream. No two pictures of Mount Agung are the same. Dawn and sunset are quite spectacular.
* An ancient temple which is stunningly beautiful. This is an early style Buddhist temple, a true historical site. For culture tours, it’s a must.
* White water rafting down the Telaga Waja River. It’s real white water rafting, with professional backup. It’s an adventure within an adventure.

Those are just the basics. The area is full of fascinating things to see, and it’s well stocked with discreet modern conveniences. They don’t overdo things on Bali. Everything is understated to some degree, and the tasteful surroundings don’t distract from the fantastic, incredible place.

Sanur Sea Walking

Sanur is close to Denpasar, to the south east. It’s right on one of Bali’s fabulous surfing beaches, and it includes the unique “Sea Walking” tour. This is a dive, where you can walk on the sea floor among the natural scenery. There’s nothing like this anywhere else on Earth, and it’s a lot of fun.

The Sea Walk experience involves nothing more complex than a bathing suit and a modern diving helmet with a big window face. Unlike scuba gear, you get a full panoramic view. The Sanur area is full of fish and exotic sea life. This is a fully supervised 20 minute dive in 5 metres of water, so there’s no risks involved for kids and no decompression issues. Don’t be surprised if you keep going back and doing it again, because these dives are really cheap.

Lembongan Island and Penida Island

Just off Bali and opposite Sanur are Lembongan Island and Penida Island. Lembongan is the smaller of the two islands. This is a boating, windsurfing and explorer area.
Things to do include:

Cruises: There’s nothing like a cruise, and cruising off Bali is one of the great ways to spend your holidays doing absolutely nothing but enjoying yourself.

Reef diving and snorkeling: Bali is famous as a scuba destination with good reason. The snorkeling is the preferred method for the shallows, and you can even get trained on the spot.

Island tours: These are two of Bali’s better kept secrets, not as high profile as the famous Kuta Beach but they’re dazzling. You can explore, eat great food, and then return to your luxury Bali accommodation to figure out what you want to do tomorrow. There’s no such thing as too much of a good thing on Bali.